A smugglers tale

“Smugglers” is one of several plays being developed through the Hormel New Works Festival, which runs through Sunday at Phoenix Theatre

Picture yourself a single mother, widow of two men, trying to raise your son while heading a drug cartel on the Mexico/U.S. border. Odds are, you can’t do it. That’s what makes “Smugglers,” a play by José Zárate that’s being developed through the Hormel New Works Festival at Phoenix Theatre, so compelling.

It’s a glimpse into a world most of us never see, or give a lot of thought to. When you read about warring cartels on the border, or rival gangs in urban America, does it ever occur to you that they’re filled with parents, children, siblings or spouses — or do you see numbers instead of faces?

At the heart of Zárate’s “Smugglers,” I saw a mother working to protect her young son. But also helping him through the rites of passage necessary to become a man. It’s something mothers do the world over, but in vastly different ways. Sinaloa isn’t Scottsdale — as “Smugglers” makes clear.

It’s tough to read the motives of many of the play’s characters — aside from the most basic ones like staying alive and eking out a decent living — but the ambiguity ups the intrigue factor. “Smugglers” asks us all to consider how we might think or act under similar circumstances.

The lone woman in “Smugglers” is surrounded by several men, one the father of a young daughter, who have complicated relationships to her and to each other. She’s a sensuous sort — perhaps wielding her sexuality for power, or maybe merely yielding to her own need for physical gratification.

“Smugglers” is a fast-paced play that’s gripping from the get-go. There’s little time to think while swept up in all the action, but plenty to mull over once the work draws to a close — especially what possesses a character to commit the final act in the final scene.

Fellow festival goers used words like “riveting” and “instense” to describe the play, which is filled with the sort of violence and language you’d expect in a smugglers tale. Leave the kids at home with a good swashbucklers tale and a babysitter who thinks cartels are trendy coffee joints.

“Smugglers” is directed by Pasha Yamotahari, and will be performed again on Fri, July 20 at 7:30pm and Sat, July 21 at 5pm. Click here for ticket information, or to learn more about the Hormel New Works Festival at Phoenix Theatre.

— Lynn

Note: Free festival events include a Teen Playwriting Camp Showcase (Fri at 4:30pm), a Playwrights Forum (Fri at 6pm) and a reading of Yamotahari’s “I Am Van Gogh” (Sat at 2pm).

Coming up: A “slightly dark” comedy